Why Does God Care What I Do With My Body? | Season 05, Episode 4 | Simple Truth Podcast

Have you ever felt frustrated with your own body? Maybe it feels weak, worn down, or unable to do what it once could. Or maybe your body's appetites, desires, and habits, they keep pulling you away from what you know God wants. Or maybe you just hate the way your body looks and you spend too much time trying to change it. We know that a Christian has a spirit, a soul, and a body. But what does your physical body have to do with serving God? And why does God care what I do with my own body? In this episode, we'll answer three questions. Why does my physical body matter to God? How do I find hope when my body feels weak and works against me? And as a Christian, what does God want me to do with my body? [music] Welcome to the Simple Truth Podcast. I'm Ted Ross and this is season 5 episode 4. Why does God care what I do with my body? And today we're going to answer three questions. Starting with question number one. Why does my physical body matter to God? And the answer is found in simple truth number 89. Your body was created, purchased, and inhabited by God. Let's go to Genesis chapter 1, right back to the beginning of the Bible. As a reminder, all Bible verses are from the New King James Version of the Bible. So, feel free to follow along. And in Genesis 1 verses 26 and 27, as well as verse 31, we're going to see that humanity was the pinnacle of God's creation. Both male and female, they were intentionally created in God's image and entrusted with purpose. Let's take a look. Genesis 1:26. Quote, "Then God said, let us make man in our image, according to our likeness." Verse 27, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created them." Verse 31, "And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good image." So when it says God said, "Let us make man in our image," that means representation. So when God says, "Let us make man in our image." He says, "Let us make God in our representation." That's God's living representation in creation. That's what men and women are. And they're created with dignity. It implies worth. It implies dominion, etc. So the lot that goes into this meeting, unlike the other creatures of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, men and women are unique. They are a representation of God himself in this earth. And it says, "And let us make man after our likeness." That means after our resemblance, which means we have a unique likeness to God. In many ways based on the things I just mentioned, the dignity that we hold, how we're entrusted with purpose, how we have a value and a worth, how we are to maintain and responsible for dominion in this earth. And it said that God saw everything that he had made, all creation, and behold, it was very good. It means that when humanity was created, God was exceedingly pleased. He said, "This is fitting and this is according to design." That's what very good means here in the Hebrew. So, here's a question for you. Do you allow guilt or shame to define the way you see your body, right? Sin, it brings shame. But God calls your body very good and that it has purpose. It could be guilt and shame because of something you've done in your own body. It could be guilt and shame because of something someone else inappropriately did to your body. It's the sin that brings the shame. You were made for purpose. And when you were made, God called you very good. Believe that. Trust in that. And you were made the way you are. I get it. You and I may do something. We may watch where we eat or we may exercise or we might try to get a different haircut or change our clothes a certain way. But that's just on the outside. deep down inside you need to appreciate and need to receive the fact that God has made you and your body and he has called it very good. You were made for a purpose. You were made the way you are. And it's very important that you embrace that. And as I said before, that is not where shame comes from. Shame comes from the sin. It comes from the falling short. It comes from the rebellion, the inappropriate actions that are done to that body, the same body that God called very good. So, don't allow guilt and shame to define the way you see your body or see yourself, whether it's something you've done or something someone else has done to you. Let's go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 13. And we're going to see here that your body, it's much more than a tool for satisfying appetites. I think too often in the world, it's seen that way. Your body was created to serve God and to serve your God-given purpose. And your body belongs to Christ. 1 Corinthians chapter 6:13. Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods. But God will destroy both it and them. Strong statement. Now the body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body. The context of 1 Corinthians chapter 6 was about your body. It was about how your body is to be used. And Paul even zeroed in. He not only zeroed in on appetites relating to food and sustenance, but he then zeroed in on sexual appetites too. So in the beginning of 1 Corinthians 6:13, he says foods, foods, it's nourishment, right? Nourishment for a temporary physical need. Depending on where you live in the world, you could eat different types of foods as different kinds of nourishment. But one thing remains. You'll eat food and you'll drink drink to nourish some temporary physical need for yourself. Foods are for the stomach, he says, and the stomach is for foods. But God will destroy both it and them. What does he mean by that? It means they're temporary. They're coming to an end. Food is for the stomach and the stomach for foods. And both of them are temporary. Both of them are not eternal. Sometimes you'll see maybe the world's reenactment of something in heaven. Sometimes you've seen the one where people are eating grapes and doing these other things. Heaven is not about food. Heaven doesn't require food. Food is something that we do here and it's on the earth. Food is temporary. Our stomachs are temporary and these things are coming to an end. So what Paul is describing is we're obsessing about appetites. We're obsessing about we eat and what we wear and what we drink and what we do. We're obsessing about temporary things that God will destroy. It'll be put to an end. But then it says, now the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord. Now Paul pivots. He's moving from physical food and nourishment appetites to another strong appetite in many people and that is a sexual appetite. And he says now the body is not for sexual immorality but it's for the Lord. What is sexual immorality? It's another appetite but specifically it's inappropriate sexual activity right and is a whole broad category to what makes up sexual immorality. It includes adultery, right? Having sexual relations with someone who's not your spouse, that is sin. It includes sex before marriage. It includes prostitution. It includes pornography and other things. It says, "Now the body, this physical body of a Christian, it's not for the food and it's not for sexual immorality, but instead it's for the Lord and the Lord for the body." It's interesting because we often think about serving God. We think of serving God with our spirit, which is scriptural. We think of our soul making decisions and choices, right? Where we focus in on God. We desire after God. We think about the things of God. And yes, that is what the soul is for. But your body is for God, too. We often think of the body as being something separate from that equation. And that is untrue. So the question for you is, who is in control of your body? Is it your appetites or is it Jesus Christ? That is a tough question. Surrender your body to God to fulfill God's purpose for your life. So what is a body, right? A body, it's physical. It's the physical visible part of a person that interacts with the material world around us, right? The physical body, it's usually pretty easy to understand. You've had a body your entire life. But, you know, let's drill into the details of it. Your body experiences the physical world and it does so through the five senses, right? Your body sees and your body hears and your body smells and your body tastes and your body touches. These are direct inputs, direct stimulus that come in through your body, right? And here's a scripture related to that. In Genesis 2:7, it says, "The Lord God formed man, aka the body, right, of the dust of the ground." So God formed us. He actually pulled together elements of the earth and he formed man and created man out of that. Just a little note, and it's not in the Bible, but I thought it was always very useful. We see through scientific research and through chemistry that 99% of the body is really made up of six earth's elements, right? Six elements that are found in the dust in the earth make up actually the human body. But of course, the human body is so much more than dust, isn't it? Right? Because what happened later on in Genesis 2:7? God not only formed us out of dust, but he breathed spirit into us and he made us a living being. That's what makes us human. That's what makes us who we are. So he takes this dust and he forms us. But he also gives us his spirit and then we become a living being, right? We become a living soul. The physical body, it also carries out our thoughts, our desires and our choices. So in a lot of ways, the body is this vessel. We have a soul and we have a spirit. It's unseen. It's hidden parts of us. And those are really important because it's how we connect with God and it forms our personality and with our soul and our spirit we we make decisions and we pursue things and we we make choices of things etc. Lord willing the right choices and good things. That's why we renew our soul so that we do the more and more things that please God and then we find ourselves more blessed and having a more fulfilling and purposeful life. But it's the body that carries these things out. So here we see in Matthew 12 verses 34 and35 where Jesus says quote for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks a good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things right so he says out of the abundance of the heart you may remember from previous episodes that the heart is the soul and the spirit made together so it says that out of the abundance of the heart out of the abundance of that unseen part of us the mouth the body speaks, right? So the body is actually this vehicle. It's this tool that carries out what we think about, what we desire after, and the choices that we make. So the body is really, really important, right? It's a really, really important component of a person. It carries out what we think about, what we desire after, the choices that we make. And this is in contrast with the other two parts of a Christian, right? The ones that we covered in the last two episodes. The body is not the soul, right? The soul is the inner life of a person where we think, where we feel, where we choose. And the body is not the spirit, right? The god-facing part of a person in which where we fellowship, where we have intuition, where we have a conscience, and we relate to God. So, when we think about the parts of a Christian, we're going to take a look at a graphic that's a little different from the one we looked at a couple episodes ago. We're going to start with spirit and we're going to end with body this time. So when we think of a whole Christian, right, our spirit is the God-facing part that relates to God, that connects to God. And then our soul, as we saw last episode, it's where in ourselves, we think, we feel, we choose. That's the soul. Those are the characteristics and the capacities of the soul as described in scripture. And then of course the body, right? our body. It expresses those inner decisions in the physical world. The things that we think to do, the desires that we pursue, the choices that we make, they're often fulfilled and they're often accomplished through our body, which of course interacts with the material world around us and in which we have our five senses in which we receive stimulus and then we react to that. So let's take a look at 1 Corinthians 6:19 and 20 to see here that your body matters to God. Not only because he created it. We see that quite clearly in Genesis, but also because Christ redeemed it, redeemed your body and the Holy Spirit now dwells within it. So if you ask yourself the question of why your body is important to God, here are some pretty clear answers from God in scripture. 1 Corinthians 6:19. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and you are not your own? Verse 20. For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God's. Okay, powerful verses. Or do you not know? By the way, Paul says, "Do you not know?" And I think many of us don't quite know what he's about to write here, right? by the Holy Spirit. I think for a lot of us, we don't exactly grasp the importance and really what this means in our lives. And it's important for us to get this into our heart and to live it out so that we'd be blessed. Okay. He says, "Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit?" A temple is a it's a sacred dwelling place for God's presence. That's the idea of it. And we know that God doesn't dwell in in human buildings and in human temples and in human churches. God is way grander that God is everywhere. But for Paul to write this, he's saying, listen, your body is as if it's a temple. It's as if it's a sacred dwelling place for God's presence. And he's not describing a physical building. He's describing your body. You you are that temple. You are a sacred dwelling place for God's presence. Who is in you? It scripture says, whom you have from God, and you are not your own. The Holy Spirit, God's spirit who leads, who guides, who lives in us. He dwells inside of you and you are a temple. Your body contains the Holy Spirit. So, of course, God cares about you. And of course, God cares about your body. It is a temple for God. It is a container. It's a vessel. It's a dwelling place for God to inhabit and for him to have his presence. Verse 20 says, "For you were bought at a price." You were bought. You were purchased. You were acquired through payment. When were you purchased? When were you acquired? And what payment was made? The gospel. Jesus died for your sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day. And in doing so, he purchased us. He's a propitiation, as the word said. He's a satisfying factor. He redeemed us. He forgave a debt. He paid the ransom. Scripture after scripture, term after term, it's describing this very thing. You and I were bought at a price, a very grave price. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That's a pretty extreme price, but it needed to be extreme so that we could be delivered. Praise God. You were bought at a price. Therefore, because you were bought at a price, glorify God. Honor God. Praise God. Make God's greatness visible. That word means in your body and in your spirit. Not just in your spirit where you're connecting to God, where you're fellowshipping and you have a conscience and you have intuition, but also in your body, your physical body. Glorify and honor God in your body. This physical thing that interacts with the material world, glorify and honor God in it. Because your spirit and your body, they are gods. Do you treat your body as your own or do you treat it as gods? And that's a strong word. That's a strong word. I understand. But do you do you treat your body as your own? Do you go to church sometimes and say, "Well, I'll give God my spirit. Maybe at times I'll give him my soul, but my body is my own. Your body is not your own, and my body is not my own." Our body is God's. As the scripture says, Jesus paid the price for you and for me. And the Holy Spirit lives in you. So what you do with your body physically matters spiritually. [snorts] Let's take a moment. If God created my body, it's a natural question here. If God created my body, why does it sometimes work against me? Right? He created it and he called it good. It's a place where Christ bought us at a price. It's a place in which it's a temple. It's a dwelling place, a sacred dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. So, if God created my body, why does it sometimes work against me? Well, God created the body and he created it for good. But sin, it tries to operate in us. And it tries to operate in us through the physical appetites, the impulses and the habits of our body. Sin tries to take advantage of our desires, our impulses, our habits to then try to be able to entice us and lead us away. Romans 7:23 says, quote, "But I see another law in my members." Romans, the whole book of Romans is fantastic. Again, Romans chapter 7 is very powerful where Paul is describing this inner struggle within himself. And we discuss some of these verses in the earlier episodes of this season. But he says, "I see another law in my members." That word members is body parts, right? I see another law in my members, in my body, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin. Right? What does that mean? It means sin's powerful pull towards disobedience. I see something working inside my body, Paul writes, and it's bringing me, it's drawing me through a powerful pull to disobey God. And this pull is in my members. It's in my body parts. Okay? It's powerful, but he sees it. Right? Sometimes our body works against us. And it's because sin tries to take advantage of our desires because of our impulses. And it tries to pull us into sin, into disobedience through the desires and the affections and the impulses of our body. Temptation, it often begins when a physical desire draws us to sin. Right? James 1:14. These are many of these are verses you've read before, but you're reading it in the context of understanding your body. And it becomes very powerful to help us understand the nature of who God is and what he wants from us and where our body fits in our relationship with God. James 1:14, quote, "But each one is tempted when he's drawn away by his own desires, his own cravings, and enticed, which means we're lured to sin." So temptation often starts when a physical impulse, a physical desire tries to draw us into disobedience, tries to draw us into sin. Although our spirit wants to obey, that's why it's important to talk about the parts of a Christian where we think about ourselves as a whole Christian, as one person, but we're made up of a spirit and a soul and a body. And the purpose to understand it is not to get legal or to get strict or to get rigid is to understand how the different parts interact with each other. So, as you're dealing with something, you could say to yourself, "Well, I know in my spirit I want to obey, but I have these physical desires that are trying to interfere. So, I will use my soul. I will use my soul and I will choose to read, to pray, to do praise and worship, to fast. I will do things to refocus myself back onto the things of the spirit so that I can then rule over the desires of the flesh." The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Jesus said this in Matthew 26:41. The context of this is he was in Gethsemane and he told his disciples, "Pray with me. Let's pray." He's praying through the death and resurrection. He's praying through the gospel. And every time he'd go back to the disciples, they were falling asleep. And he says, "The spirit indeed is willing. Your spirit, my spirit, it's reconnected to God. We're born again, right? We're born from above. And our spirit is willing. Our spirit wants to obey God. Our spirit fellowships with God. It has a conscience. It has intuition. But the flesh, the body, and the unregenerated part of our soul, it's weak. And it desires after other things. It wants to rebel. It wants to pursue temporary, pathetic desires. Desires that if you were to compare them to all the good things God has for you, it's incomparable. But at the time, it makes sense to you because you're walking according to the desires of your flesh. I plead with you and I plead even with myself. Like Paul pleads with us. He pleads with us to say, "Set apart the deeds of the flesh. Set apart the desires of the flesh." It's temporal and it's destructive. It literally kills people. It destroys our relationship with God. It destroys other people. Set them aside. Cast them down. Flee from them and pursue the things of the spirit, the fruit of the spirit. Don't you want joy and peace and strength and direction and to fulfill your purpose? Of course, you and I want that. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is weak. So, it is our job to crucify the flesh with its affections and its lust and to be led by the spirit throughout the day so we can do the things of God and the purposes of God and find ourselves relating and fellowshipping with God and gaining all the benefits associated with that. The body itself is not evil, but sin will try. It'll try to entice us and it'll try to use the body's desires and its weaknesses and its habits to try to make us stumble. That's why even though God created our body, sin tries to make our body work against us. Question number two, is there hope? Is there hope when my body feels weak and it tries to work against me? Absolutely there is. Simple truth number 90. Our body declines over time, but God renews our inner person. Praise God. 2 Corinthians chapter 4:16-18. In 2 Corinthians 4:16, here we're going to see that even though this body, this temporary body that we have, it's gradually deteriorating as we get older, our eternal inner self, it's being renewed. It's being restored each day. 2 Corinthians 4:16, quote, "Therefore, we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Says, "Therefore, we do not lose heart. We do not become discouraged. We do not give up." Because even though our outward man, that's our outward physical body, you guessed it. I'm sure you were right there with it. The physical body, our physical representation that interacts with the world around us and operates according to the five senses. Even though our outward man is perishing, it's getting older. It has issues. It gets injured. You know, there's all sorts of things that occur in the physical body. You don't need me to tell it. If you're older, you know what I'm talking about. If you're younger, you will know what I'm talking about. And honestly, you probably already know what I'm talking about, right? It's perishing. What is perishing? It's decaying. It's wearing down. It's deteriorating. Yet, the inward man, the inner unseen part of a person, the soul and the spirit, right? That inner part, you know it's there because you could detect it. When you interact with somebody, they make jokes or they have a dry humor or they're a little shy or they're very outgoing or they are very interested in this kind of hobby, right? You can sense somebody. You can sense who they are as a person that it's very different from the outward part, from their physical part, from the part that you visibly see. It says, "But the inward man is being renewed." The inward man is being made new again. The inward man's being restored with strength. The inward part of you, male and female, that inward part of you is being made new again. Praise God. Day by day, does physical weakness or does aging, does it cause you sometimes to lose heart? Do you sometimes start to say to yourself, "I'm getting older. I'm starting to panic. Maybe the way my body feels or maybe I have certain feelings inside of me." Don't let that happen. It's your temporary body. Don't be surprised. Your temporary body, your outward man, as Paul wrote, it's going to decay. It's going to wear down. It's going to deteriorate. You're going to do things to try to maintain it. And I urge you to do things to maintain your body. But it's just a matter of time before you start to feel the effects or see the effects. And so, you serve God. You thank God. You let him strengthen you because God can do miraculous things even in your body. But your body may wear down some, but God is transforming you on the inside. And it's on the inside where it counts most. It's on the inside because that's what lasts forever. Your soul and your spirit, that's what goes for eternity. The body is transitory. It's going to move right along. And so on the inside where it counts, what really matters, right? Remember what Jesus wrote? What does it profit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul? The soul is what matters. The soul is where it counts. And so where your soul is, where it counts. God is working there. God is working inside of that. God is renewing you and he's changing you. You're listening to this podcast. You're reading your Bible. You're praying. You're seeking God's will. You're seeking his face. That is what you build. That is what you grow. And that is what's being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:17 and 18. Here we're going to see that our present challenges and our temptations, those things that we're wrestling with, those areas where our body is working against us, they're nothing compared to the immeasurably great and everlasting glory that God has promised. I'm using big words here, but I'm really trying to get the point across. Second Corinthians 4:17, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Verse 18. Well, we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For our light affliction, our light pressure, our light distress, our light trouble. If anyone can call it light, it wouldn't be Paul, would it? Here's a person who was beaten. People were trying to kill him. He was hungry. He was shipwrecked. There's a long list of things. He was imprisoned. There's a long list of things that happened to Paul. And yet, even Paul wrote and said that his affliction was light. And if Paul's affliction was light, I'm pretty sure you're and my affliction is also light. The pressures we face, the distresses we have, the troubles we feel, they are light. And they are but for a moment. And they are working. They are working. These light afflictions are working. That word means producing, accomplishing. They're working for us. Our own light afflictions, the pressures, the afflictions, the challenges, our body working against us, you know, enemies, people trying to disrupt us, people pushing against us, spiritual pressure. All of these things, they are producing and accomplishing a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Powerful. Those light afflictions are working something far more exceeding than the afflictions themselves. And they are creating an eternal weight of glory. Powerful benefits that God is working through us. Verse 18, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. But the things which are seen are temporary. That word temporary means they last only for a season. They are impermanent. They're not permanent. the things that we see our body and the world around us which we get so excited about and so drawn to that we're chasing after and we're trying to build big houses and buy a bunch of cars um we're trying to get the the best looking spouse or whatever it may be or watch the most movies or play the most video games we're pursuing the wrong things. The things that we're looking at that we're staring at, they're temporary. They're not permanent. But the things which are not seen like your soul, your spirit, those things are eternal. Those things are what count. Those things are what matter. So you see it repeatedly in the scriptures. Jesus, he corrects and he urges and he rebukes and he tells people, "Focus in on the things that matter and set apart and cast aside the things that don't." And so here's Paul saying the same thing. The things which are not seen are eternal. It means they're everlasting. They're permanent. and they are not decaying. So, where's your daily focus? Is your daily focus, ask yourself this, where's your daily focus? Are you daily focused on a weakening body? Are you daily focused on things that last only for a season and they're not permanent? Or do you find your daily focus? Are you focused on the things that are eternal, the things that are permanent, things that are everlasting, things that won't decay? Are you focused in on growing spiritually, on building your relationship with God? That's the question, folks. Because what does the devil want to do? What does the world want to do? He wants you to spend all of your hours of every day obsessed and focused on temporary, impermanent, not permanent things. That's where the devil would want you to be. Look beyond what you see. Stop getting stuck in all this he said, she said, and what you see. Look to what God is doing and look to what God has promised. That is your world. When you became born again, as Jesus was talking to Nicodemus, you didn't become, you didn't come out of a mother's womb again. You were born from above. You were born spiritually. It opened your eyes up to an entirely new world. And that movie The Matrix people like to talk about, like to talk about red pill, like to talk about this idea that you could take a pill, then all of a sudden your eyes are open. It's almost as if it's an analogy to a lot of what's written in the Bible thousands of years ago, which often happens in movies, of course. Look beyond what you see. Look beyond just this carnal things that are around you and start to open up your spiritual ears and your spiritual eyes, so to speak, and start to hear what the spirit of the Lord is saying this day to you. Start to see what God is doing in your life and where God wants you. Because the time is going to come. We're all going to come before judgment. And the things that we did that we spent our time in this temporary, not permanent body, those are the things that we get judged for. And it's not here to accuse any of us or to make any of us feel guilty, but it's to say time is precious and time is short. So make the most out of it. And don't make the most out of it for temporary things. Make the most out of it for permanent things. Jesus talked about a parable about a merchant seeking goodly pearls. And he found one pearl that was worth so much that he sold everything he had. The pearl of great price as they describe. Find that thing. Find spiritual benefits. Find spiritual satisfaction. and grow yourself in the spirit. Cause your soul to be renewed. Present your body to God as a living sacrifice. Don't lay up for yourself treasures on earth. Lay up for yourself treasure in heaven. Grow the fruit of the spirit. Obey God. Seek God. Do his will. And stop getting stuck on the temporary. 2 Corinthians 12:9. Here we're going to see that the physical shortcomings or your body's desires that are working against you, they're no obstacle to God. In fact, God reveals his strength through our dependent state. It's when we're very dependent that God says, "Okay, now I'm going to show my power." 2 Corinthians 12:9, quote, "And he said to me," this is God speaking to Paul, quote, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Praise God. He says, ' And he said to me, God said to Paul when he prayed to get this affliction taken from him. And he says that my grace, my unearned favor, my kindness, right? You didn't earn it, but I give it to you. My unearned favor to you is sufficient for you. To be sufficient means it's adequate. It's enough for what's needed. God's grace is sufficient. You don't even need extra effort or extra energy. Just the unmerited favor and the kindness that God gives. It's enough. It's enough. It says, "For my strength is made perfect in weakness." God's power, God's ability, it's made perfect in weakness, in our own frailty, in our own limitations, our own lack of strength. So your body at times it may feel weak or you may say to yourself, I'm getting older. I feel the decay or I feel tired. Doesn't even matter. Not an obstacle to God at all because our frailty, our limitations, our lack of strength, they don't matter. God will actually perfect his strength, his power, his ability through all of our weaknesses, through all of our challenges, through all the things that resist us. So set your heart on him, thank him, praise him, obey him because your body's not going to get in the way. Now, your body is not going to stay the hand of God. It's not going to stop God from doing what he needs to do in your life. It says that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Do you struggle to trust God? I know I do. When I don't feel confident, I don't feel strong. I'll feel like all of a sudden I I feel like I was in control. Oh, I feel out of control. I don't know what to do. And I I may want to start panicking. It doesn't even matter. God's power, it rests on you in times of weakness. It rests on you in times of weakness. When there's times of weakness, look up and thank God. Say, "God, I don't feel confident. I don't feel strong, but you're in control. Your grace is sufficient. Your grace is more than what I need. It's perfect. And your strength will be made perfect in this weakness that I feel because I was never really strong in the first place. my soul, my body. That's not really strength. God is strength. God's power will rest on you in times of weakness. And there's more. Simple truth number 91. Our body will later be redeemed into a new glorified body. So if we're concerned about decay, let's see this here now. You may be born again. We're going to take a look at Romans 8 verses 22 and 23. You may be born again, but God's work of redemption, it's not yet complete. The scripture says he will still free your body from decay and raise it to new life. Romans 8:22. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Verse 23. Not only that, but we also who have the first fruits of the spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. Praise God. For we know that the whole creation, all creation, including humanity, but also not humanity, all creation groans and labors. To groan is to have shared suffering, to have frustration, to have longing. You might wonder sometime why life could feel kind of hard. One of the reasons why is you're right there with the rest of creation. You have a shared suffering. You have a frustration. You have a longing because you know this is not your home. You know that you were a pilgrim. You know, you're a sojourner. As the scripture says, this isn't your home. You're not a citizen of this land. You're a citizen of heaven, and you're frustrated in your longing to be where you belong. But you and I are here, so we make the most out of it. It says the whole creation groans and labors. Labor is painful distress, right? We know what labor pains are when it comes to a woman bearing a child. But it in this context, it's painful distress anticipating something new. When a woman is giving birth to a child, it's painful, but it results in a child, something wonderful, something tremendous, something that's miraculous. And it says here that we have labor with birth pains together until now. We have a painful distress. We're not birthing a child right now. Most of us certainly aren't. But we have a painful distress anticipating something new, and that is a new glorified body. says not only that but we also have the first fruits of the spirit. So the spirit is the first portion with more to come. We are given the holy spirit as a down payment in earnest and it's the first portion and there is more to come. And what is that more to come? It's the redemption of our body. The deliverance of our body from decay and from death. That's what the whole creation groans and labors with births for. That's what you and I feel a discomfort inside of us of because we have been born again. We have been baptized and received the Holy Spirit and now we await the redemption of our body. Our body is decaying. Our body is deteriorating. We know that. But we are awaiting the deliverance of our body from death and decay. The same way Jesus as our example when he rose from the dead, he had a glorified body. That is our example. That is what's promised throughout scripture. Does your body's weakness, does it distract you from serving God? Well, your body is temporary. That's what we've been discussing. And God is preparing a glorious transformation of your body. Philippians 3:es 20 and 21. Your body with its weaknesses, its desires, its limitations. It will not remain this way forever. God will redeem your body and transform your body. Philippians 3:20. For our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 21, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. I get it. You may have a passport to a certain country. I understand that. But our citizenship, brothers and sisters in Christ, doesn't matter what country you're from, who you are, what gender you are, how tall you are, how short you are, what your age is. You and I are brothers and sisters. You and I have a shared identity and a shared homeland. And it isn't here. It's in heaven. From which we eagerly await for the savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body. To transform is to change the form or the condition of our body, our lowly body into a new form and a new condition. To transform, that means he's going to change the form and condition of what we have now into something entirely new of our lowly body, our present weak decaying mortal body. I don't need to elaborate on it. You know the difficulties of it. God made us and called us good. Sin, it tries to entice us. It works off our desires and our appetites. Our body gets older. It decays. There are challenges certainly with being in this mortal body. And as we know, all of creation, it groans and it labors for something more because even though we've been born again, even though we've received the Holy Spirit, we are awaiting something. We are waiting the redemption of our body. And until then, we will be groaning and we will be frustrated. We will be desiring after that long awaited redemption. And it says that it may be that our lowly body may be conformed, that is to be made into the same form as Jesus's resurrected body. In season two, we discuss what it means to be a Christian. And we go through the entire season and we look about how much Jesus is our example all the way down to the fact that Jesus when he was resurrected, he had a glorified body. And that is the same body that we will be resurrected with. We will have a resurrected glorified body where God will transform our body. He will change the form and the conditions of our body. And we will go from a lowly, a weak, a decaying mortal body into the same form and condition as the type of body Jesus had when he resurrected. Praise God. If God will transform my body one day, then how should I look at it now? Right? I know I'm awaiting something. I'm groaning and I'm laboring along with all creation around it. Well, how should I look at my body now? Well, your body has an amazing future. We just read, but it also has a God-given purpose right now. Which leads us to question number three. What does God want me to do with my body now? Simple truth number 92. Present your body to God by yielding, disciplining, and caring for your body. Romans 12:1. Here we're going to see God doesn't just want the thoughts and intentions of your heart, your soul, and your spirit. He wants your body dedicated to his purposes, too. Quote, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. I beseech you, I urge you, Paul writes, "Therefore, brethren, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God that you present." To present is to offer yourself for God's righteous use. Present your bodies to God. Right? As a living sacrifice, that means something willingly offered to God. You offer it to God and say, "God, do with it what you will. Do with it for your purpose. Christ bought me at a price. You have filled me as a temple of your holy spirit, a sacred dwelling place for your spirit. Now I will present my body. I will offer my body for God's righteous use. I will willingly offer it to God. Something that's holy. That means set apart from sin and devoted to God, which is our reasonable service. That word service means our act of worship. It's how we honor God. And it's only reasonable. It's only reasonable that Jesus, who died for our sins, he didn't have to take on mortal flesh. He didn't have to live this life and be derided and yelled at and spit upon and beaten and murdered. He didn't have to do that, but he did it. And he did it for you and for me. And he did it for love. So Christ bought us and the Holy Spirit fills us. So it's only reasonable that we dedicate and we present our bodies to him. And when we do it, he'll bless us. Oh my gosh, will he bless us. The best life to live is the life that's serving and submitted to God. You will have peace and you'll have joy and you'll have strength and you'll be prosperous and you'll be healthy and you'll have all these things that God will do in your life because God blesses his people. There's not one thing that he will withhold for us when we can have our heart set upon him. What physical actions, habits, desires do you withhold from God? We're instructed to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. But I think too often there are things that physically we do or habits we have or desires we have that we hold back. We say, "God, you can have things, but you can't have this." Place every part of your physical life at God's disposal. You're used to hearing to place every part of your spiritual life at God's disposal. But scripture is also very clear that we should place every part of our physical life at God's disposal, too. surrendering every part of our physical life of our body to God. It can be difficult. I completely understand. But God will patiently help us so we can stop yielding these members, these body parts to sin. And he does it one area at a time. Romans 6:12 and 13. Here we're going to see we're united with Christ in his death and resurrection. So sin no longer has authority over us. Now, we died with Christ and we're raised with Christ and he gives us power to overcome it. So now, let's live that out in our bodies. Romans 6:12, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. Verse 13, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. Praise God. and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. It says, "Therefore, do not let sin reign. Do not let sin exercise control over you or rule you like a king. Don't let sin reign over you. God broke the power of sin over your life. So stop letting it exercise control over your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust. Stop obeying your mortal body with its strong desires, its cravings, its impulses. Stop obeying them. You don't need to let those impulses and those desires and those cravings rule over you. You're in charge here. It's not in charge here. You're in charge here. You were born from above. Your spirit is alive. You've got power and you've got faith and you've got strength and you've got the support of God. And you've got the comforter and the Holy Spirit. And you can overcome every desire, every craving, every impulse of your flesh. And do not present your members. Those are your body parts. Don't present your members as instruments or tools or weapons of unrighteousness of unrighteous behavior. Behavior which is against God and against God's will. Right? Instead, present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead. When you were water baptized, you were baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. Your baptism symbolized your old man being put to death. you making a commitment that you are going to die in Christ and then come alive to serve God, to present your bodies to God, to not let sin reign in your mortal body, and that you would present your members or your body parts as instruments of righteousness to God. Are you waiting for your body's desires to simply change before you obey God? As long as you have those desires, you're not going to fight them. Right? I've been there. I know what you're talking about. God has given us power over sin. He has given us power over sin. We don't need to wait for desires to change. We're going to not let sin reign in our mortal body. We have been given power over this. We should resist desire and practice self-control. 1 Corinthians 9:24- 27. Here we're going to see that discipline and self-control. It isn't self-hate. It's bringing your body's desire under control for God and for his purposes. 1 Corinthians chapter 9:24. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. Verse 25. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Verse 26. Therefore I run thus, not with uncertainty. Thus I fight not as one who beats the air, but I discipline my body, Paul writes, and bring it unto subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. It says, do you not know that those who run in a race, they all run? Well, you could have seen the Olympics. You could have seen all sorts of foot races, right? Everyone runs in it, but only one person wins. Only one person receives a prize. So then Paul says, "Run in such a way that you may obtain that prize." When you run the race of life, don't be the person jogging at the very back. Be the person who's running this race to win. Submit yourself, spirit, soul, and body to God. Prove God. Try God out. See if God is who he says he is. And I guarantee you, you will see heaven and earth move on your behalf when you run this race. Run in such a way that you want to win this race. Verse 25. And everyone who competes for that prize, they're temperate. To be temperate means they exercise self-control. They have control over their appetites. Could you only imagine what a marathon would look like with a bunch of runners who all were just taken over by all their appetites. You would see a poor group of runners. A marathon requires intense discipline, intense self-control to be able to run a race that long and at that speed. So instead, the scripture says, "Everyone who competes for that prize is temperate. They exercise self-control over their appetites." Hint hint. You and I need to be temperate. Exercising self-control over our appetites. It says here, "Now, they do it to obtain a perishable crown." The people who run the race, they're trying to get a crown, a victor's crown. They're trying to get a medal, let's say, in the Olympics, a gold medal. But we, we run this race of life for an imperishable crown. the crown that they chase after. It's just a coin, right? A a piece of gold, a piece of silver, a piece of bronze, whatever it may be, a certificate. That's what they chase after. That's the prize they're going after. But the prize we're going after is eternal. It's much more important. And in verse 26, he says, "Therefore, I I Paul, I run this way, not with uncertainty." He doesn't run and then stop and then run and then stop. He just runs and he runs as hard as he can. And he says, "Thus I fight." Like a boxer, not as one who beats the air. He's not shadow boxing. The expression goes, he's not just beating the air. He's in a real fight with the real opponent. Right? And verse 27, he says, "But I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection." To discipline it means I deal firmly with my body and I put it under control. I discipline my body and I bring it into subjection. Paul says, "Unless when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." Paul says, "If he does not deal firmly with his body, if he doesn't put it under control, if he doesn't bring it under subjection, then even though he's been preaching the gospel and he's been ministering to others, he may find out not only did he not win the prize, he may be disqualified from the race." Are you living with purpose, or are you simply following what feels good? You should live with purpose. You should walk according to how the spirit leads. You should renew your soul and you should not be spending your days with this body simply following whatever feels good. It means you are running this race to lose which means you are chasing perishable crowns at best. Discipline your desires so your body can serve God's purpose. So what should I do now? Okay. So God created our body. He created for good. But sin tries to entice us through our physical appetites and through our habits. Okay, I now know that I need to present my body to God as an act of service and worship. We all know that we need to refuse to let sinful desires rule our body and our behavior, right? And we need to practice self-control so our bodies can serve God's purposes. But what can I do this week? How can I actually try this out? Well, try this out for the next seven days. our 7-day challenge. Day one, present your body to God. Okay. Read Romans 12:1 out loud and meditate on it during this day. Right? In day one, present your body to God. Start by reading Romans 12:1. Read it out loud so you can hear it and meditate throughout the day. Remind yourself of it. Think about how does this verse apply to me? Where does this verse apply in the work I do and in my home life and with my family or with my friends? Start to really meditate and really chew on that scripture in your own life. Then surrender one physical habit, desire, or weakness. Find one and surrender it. Surrender it to God. Days 2 through 7. Now, we're going to watch. We're going to resist temptation. We're going to refocus. What do I mean by that? Watch out for that desire, the one physical habit, desire, or weakness that you were surrendering. Watch out for it. Watch out for it arising and watch out for it trying to pull you to sin. What often happens is we commit a physical act or mental act and we didn't realize that the seed of it was planted prior. We were maybe thinking about that act or we were thinking about things related to it and then with time lo and behold we find ourselves doing it. So, it's really important to be conscious, to be mindful, to take an assessment of yourself, and to see when that desire is trying to plant a seed and trying to grow inside of you. I don't know about you, but I've had plenty of times, too many times where maybe at the end of the day, I find myself thinking thoughts or feeling feelings where I said, "Where did all this come from?" And the answer usually is, "It started somewhere early in the day, but I didn't check it. I didn't put it back into perspective. I didn't refocus myself, and it started to grow. But then by the time it grew, I found where maybe I lost my cool or I got angry or I really just kind of fell into something that felt like despair and and I had to really pray and seek God just to get out of it. That type of thing is very preventable if we'd watch out for it and then when it comes we'd resist temptation and refocus. Shift your focus when it happens. When you see this desire starting to arise and trying to pull you into sin, shift your focus to the five disciplines. Focus on reading the word out loud. Focus on meditating on the scripture. Pray. Be led by the spirit. Fast if you need to. And you start to really zero back in on God. You're recommitting yourself. It's like the psalmist wrote, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name." You're telling your soul, "I'm going to get out of those thoughts. I'm going to get out of those desires. I'm going to put my focus right back on God." When you resist temptation, God will strengthen you and it will flee. It takes off. It seems at the time like, "Oh my gosh, no. I think I'm going to do it. You're not going to do it. Resist it. It cannot overcome you. Jesus Christ died for your sins. He was buried and he rose again the third day. That is the gospel. It's the power of God to save you. There is so much power in that. What Jesus did on the cross and when he rose from the grave, you have so much power afforded to you that if you would resist that devil and you resist temptation, it will flee from you. But it's going to feel a little strange for a little while as you hold out. Praise God. But God will strengthen you and it will take right off and you'll say, "Praise God, I surrendered it and I overcame it." Days three through seven, avoid what feeds that desire. So if it comes, you start to see it coming. You can shift your focus to the five disciplines. You'll resist it. It will run. But avoid what feeds that desire. Avoid situations, avoid media, avoid routines that stir up that temptation and replace them with wise choices. You'll find that these temptations, these desires, they can get fueled by things. And if you keep putting yourself across those things, you're just setting yourself up over and over again to have to deal and wrestle with that. So make good choices in where you actually avoid what feeds that desire in the first place. Praise God. We pray God bless you. God bless you and God keep you as you present your body to God as you watch for and you resist and overcome temptation. And don't miss our next episode. If your spirit is alive, your soul is being renewed, and your body belongs to God. Well, then how do you live as a whole Christian under Christ? Get ready for next episode where we wrap up this entire season in our final episode of season 5. So, subscribe and keep watching for more simple, biblical, and essential truth. [music]